Strainer.



G. SMITH.

Patented J an. 17,1911.

000000 000000. V n nobwo Inventor Attorneys GERTRUDE SMITH, OF VALDOSTA, GEORGIA.

STRAINEB.

Application filed September 15, 1910.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 1'7, 1911.

Serial No. 582,193.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnn'rnunn SMrrI-I, a citizen of the United States, residing at Valdosta, in the county of Lowndes and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Strainer, of which the following is a specitication.

It is the object of this invention to provide a strainer adapted to be mounted in a coffee pot or a tea pot, in order to contain the grounds, and to prevent the same from being dispersed through the liquor which is being brewed.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel means for maintaining parts of the structure normally in abutment, to provide novel means for manipulating the said parts to open the device, and to provide novel means for hinging the parts together and for uniting the several constituent elements of the structure. I

\Vith the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 shows the invention in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a fragmental top plan, parts being broken away; Fig. 3 is a fragmental side elevation, taken at right angles to the showing of Fig. 1, parts being removed; Fig. 1 is a detail perspective of the suspension member; and Fig. 5 is a fragmental perspective, showing the manner in which the spring operates at once, to maintain the strainer in closed position, and to maintain the component parts of the strainer, hingedly connected together.

The invention includes, as primary and fundamental elements, parts 1, movable with respect to each other and preferably hemispherical in outline, these parts being fashioned from wire netting, or other foraminous material. The adjacent edges of the parts 1 are surrounded by bands 2, these bands having alined projections 3, extended in opposite directions.

Handles t outstand from the parts 1, these handles being preferably secured, as denoted by the numeral 5, to the projections 3 of the bands 2. These handles 4 are preferably fashioned from wire, and intermediate their ends, and relatively near to the projections 3, the handles are bent toward each other, to form projections 6. The ends of a helical compression spring 7 are seated upon the projections 6, the spring obviously acting to maintain the edges of the parts 1 in abutment. The suspension member, shown in detail in Fig. a, is preferably fashioned from a rod 8, curved adjacent its upper end, as denoted by the numeral 9 to overhang one of the parts 1, the rod terminating, beyond its curved portion 9 in a hook 10. It will be seen that when this hook 10 is engaged over the edge of the coffee or tea pot, the rod 8 constitutes a means for suspending the strainer within the pot. Adjacent its lower end, the rod 8 is carried laterally, to form an arm 11, extended in one direction from the rod 8, the rod being then carried backward upon itself to form an oppositely extended arm 12. These laterally extended arms 11. and 12 are located preferably, although not necessarily, in a common plane with the hook 10. The extremity of the rod is carried outwardly, as denoted by the numeral 14:, substantially at right angles to the plane determined by the arms 11 and 12 and the hook 10, and thence returned-upon itself to form a finger 15. Cooperating knuckles or hinge members 16 are formed upon the bands 2, in alinement with the projections Through these knuckles 16, the finger 15 is thrust, the finger 15 thus uniting the knuckles 16, so that the parts 1 are hinged to gether.

By reason of the fact that the spring 7 is engaged in its intermediate portion by the arms 11 and 12 of the suspension member, the spring will be prevented from bucklin Moreover, by reason of the fact that the arms 11v and 12 are engaged in the interme diate portion of the spring 7, this spring 7 constitutes a means for maintaining the finger 15 in engagement with the knuckles 16.

In practical operation, the tea or cofiee is placed within the parts 1, the spring 7 normally maintaining these parts in abutment, so that the contents of the structure cannot accidentally be dropped. The hook 10 is then engaged over the edge of the coffee or tea pot, the parts 1, together with their contents depending Within the pot, in which position the contents of. the parts 1 will be saturated by the Water in the pot.

By engaging the handles at, and pressing the same together, the parts 1 may be separated to dump their contents.

Having described the invention What is claimed is 1. A device of the class described comprising movable parts; hinge members disposed upon the parts; a suspension device having a finger uniting the hinge members; and resilient means for maintaining the parts in abutment, said means being inter-engaged with the suspension device to hold the finger thereof in engagement with the hinge members.

2. A device of the class described comprising movable parts; handles outstanding from the parts; a compression spring terminally engaged with the handles; hinge members upon the parts; and a suspension device engaged with the intermediate portion of the spring and uniting the hinge members.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GERTRUDE SMITH.

lVitnesses V. R. STRUHLAND, J. T. BLALOCK. 

